Music in Disguise

Well, I'm probably the last to know, but if you have a playlist on your blog, it's a good idea to let it play through on occasion so you can X the ones it flip-flops to "related" but totally unacceptable alterations! Such as Money Money Money by ABBA, which I love, flipped to a mix which includes Jay-Z singing about ... well, never mind. Still shows the ABBA album cover. Or M(etropolitan)T(ransit)A(uthority) by Hair of the Dog (in lieu of but very much like The Kingston Trio which isn't available), switching to The Hair of the Dog by Green on Red, a punk band! Not that I *necessarily* have anything against punk rock, but scrud! Sigh, as if it's not annoying enough to end up with broken links....

Girls Love Pink?

My sister Lois looks a little sly in this picture.

Only because I snapped it at the moment she was about to blink,

but maybe there's truth to it in that she threw quite a party last night,

a Girls Only Pink Party, in honor of her first grandchild's wedding.

A little better view of her new cool hairstyle

other than you can blame the fuzziness on the person behind the camera.

This is the bride (married today in the SLC temple)

... the one on the right, Mariah.

That's her mom on the left, Donelle.

And her AZ cousins sitting in the back. Sorry for chopping your heads off!

Mariah's husband, Trevor, is from Blanding.

They met at USU. He has two semesters left.

He's a return missionary from Uruguay.

After their reception festivities they'll be heading out on a honeymoon cruise.

The youngest grandchild, Abigail, and her mom, Cozette.

Grandpa took all the available boys to The Pizza Factory,

and brought some home for the latecomers.

The boys are back! Didn't even have time for a chick flick. :-)

Mom Amy with Devon and Ethan, Kaleb, Alisa, April,

and glimpses of Brooke, Tori, Rebekah, in the far background.

Brothers, Stu and Greg, some of their kids in the far background,

plus Dave and Amy's Devon and Aubrey, and Grandpa next behind his sons.

Kaleb wore a tie in honor of the occasion,

and enjoyed the pink lemonade dessert with the rest of us.

Ummm, frozen delight topped with crushed Sandies cookies,

after chicken salad croissants with pear and lime jello salad,

chips, dip, veggies and fruit.

Next we have Aunt Alisa with her son Alex.

He turns 16 soon, and just became a Sergeant in the Army ROTC.

Now the bride is the oldest granddaughter, and Kaiden is the next older grandson, on the right below, about to graduate from Neumont University. He already has a job lined up in Austin TX.

"Our mission is to provide a professionally-focused accelerated education that is rich in ideas, current in industry best practices, and deep in technological insight from the input of industry-leading partners...focused on the digital sciences."

It's always nice to spend time with this fine family.

Others in attendance I missed catching in pictures:

Maddie, Noah, and Rachel (or they're in there somewhere).

Friends I'm Grateful For and Some I'm Not

Well, let's get the "nots" over with.

My Dad was a gentle man. Only got annoyed at me once enough to give me a swat when I tested out the top of the new car which behaved somewhat like a trampoline. Used to say "Scrud!" when he was particularly put out. I've also mentioned that his liking the fights on TV puzzled me, in light of his otherwise notable kindness. Other than these few things versus many examples of his patience, there is one more, however. He would throw rocks at dogs who wanted to use our lawn for a potty break. And he was a good shot. I was somewhat embarrassed at his doing this but then I wasn't the one who dealt with the clean up.

Now I am. The one. And the descendants of his neighbors, still have dogs. Only one actually lives across the street but one night last week they must have been having a family party because there were a lot of cars, and as I was about to pull into the driveway, I spied three of the same breed and coloring eying my grass. Siblings no doubt. I got as close as I could, repeatedly honked at them and they just stared at me and continued with their dirty business. I did a U-turn and came back to the three of them heading for the open garage! I hit the button to bring the door down, but not only won't that door be a party to crushing people, ditto dogs. I inched my honking way into the garage after a couple tries, got the door down with them outside and me inside. Whew!

End of story? A couple nights ago I pulled down the side drive for my own potty break before heading to a meeting. Blackie No. 1 who prior had limited himself to merely barking at me on a regular basis, then moseyed across the street, tailed me up to the gate and sat there expectantly, as if the day's ago honking, to him meant I am a curiosity worth following up on. Sigh. A little disconcerting, it being dark, the dog being black, and obviously considers my territory his instead! I should have had my rock pile ready, in the first place. But thank goodness for gates! And I hear there's some spray I can get for the grass next summer.

I have some regular dates with friends which are a lot of fun, and for them and that, I am grateful. One of them is Betty. She's 76, very spry, and only lately has been repeating herself. I hope I make it that long before I sink into that modus operandi. Indulge in it occasionally already. Her husband was my home teacher and gave me lots of good advice. He was about five years older than his wife and was even spryer than she up until the last year of his life. (Ran three miles a night [to avoid pollution] and drank carrot juice.) He had a surgery which caused a stroke and his otherwise good health kept him alive for another year. He'd have been better off with a DNR clause. In all that time, he only made it home once, and it lasted a measly two days. (Let that be a lesson to all you health nuts.) ((As Daddy would quote, "Time and chance happeneth to them all."))

Betty was amazing, dealing with his year-long demise. She looks on the positive and will tackle anything. She did have a hard time when her anniversary rolled around, however, several months after his passing. This was because she wanted him to take her to Maddox restaurant in Perry up by Brigham City the prior year, a month before his surgery, but he forgot, and then promised her he'd take her the next.

So I took her last year (has been in business since 1949 but I'd never had the opportunity to go there either). So this year was our 1st annual trip to Maddox. It was just as fun and just as delicious. Prime rib. Baked potato. Signature homemade rolls and corn pone with whipped butter and whipped raspberry butter.

Garden fresh green string beans and carrots. Shrimp cocktail. A chocolate covered peppermint stick for dessert. We talk about going up to sample other menu items, but if we don't, we'll be keeping the prime rib tradition.